At the venue at which they hope to be competing in front of 20,000 spectators this summer, the British men's artistic gymnastics team will face a stark shootout for Olympic qualification on Tuesday night. Given the extent to which Beijing raised expectations and the hopes pinned on a London Games for a sport that is poised for lift‑off, it would be viewed as nothing short of catastrophic if they failed.

The cavernous arena formerly known as the dismal Millennium Dome, successfully reinvented as the O2 and for the next 10 days adopting its Games-time name of the North Greenwich Arena, will play host to the latest in a series of Olympic test events designed to help organisers iron out teething problems. But this time there is more at stake for the British men's team than simply testing scoring systems and getting used to the home atmosphere.

That is a direct result of their failure to finish in the top eight at the world championships in Tokyo last year. Their 10th place left them needing to finish in the top four on Tuesday in order to secure qualification for the Games. Ironically, for previous Games it would have been enough to qualify, but the criteria were changed in order to make London Prepares a second qualifying event.

The men's artistic team include Daniel Keatings, the Olympic medallist Louis Smith, Daniel Purvis, Kristian Thomas, Ruslan Panteleymonov, Max Whitlock and the reserve Sam Hunter. Keatings has fond memories of the O2, having won all‑round silver there in 2009 when it hosted the world championships.

"There will be some nerves as it's qualification and every athlete gets nervy. It's how you deal with it," he told his local paper, the Cambridge News. "The home crowd will be the key factor and they will be creating a big, positive atmosphere."

Tim Jones, British Gymnastics Olympic performance director, also said he expected the venue and the home crowd to play a role: "It's a fantastic venue. It's the most spectacular of the venues we've been to in this four-year cycle because of its size and the whole feel of the place."

They will be competing against Belarus, Brazil, Canada, Spain, France, Italy and Puerto Rico to secure that top-four finish. If they miss out, it is likely Britain will be able to send only one male gymnast to London 2012 – likely to be Purvis or Smith.

Jones said the performance in Tokyo was a reality check for a group who had overachieved in the two years following the Beijing Games. "It was not the result we had wanted or planned for. At the start of this cycle, we expected to be between eighth and 12th at this point. But we had some outstanding results early in the cycle. Our 2010 result at the world championships was terrific, the boys qualified fourth and finished seventh. So the expectation of everyone, including ourselves, was high for Tokyo. We were the first to admit that on a day when a par performance would have been good enough, we were below par. The disappointing thing was that it was the first time in this cycle we'd produced a below-par performance."

Jones said it was important that the team faced up to the reasons for their failure in Tokyo but had "regrouped and refocused" for this "defining moment".

"We never doubted ourselves but we had to go away and focus on our shortcomings. We have moved on and we have been in camp since the start of December. We back ourselves to produce a performance to qualify a full team for the Games."

Shortly before 10pm Tuesday, Britain's men will know whether their London dreams are still alive. Jones is confident they will not slip up a second time and hopeful that even bigger prizes may await in the same arena this summer.

"We've got more gymnasts now capable of winning medals on an international stage. Going into Beijing, you hoped Beth [Tweddle] would do something. Louis was a bit of an outsider but he seized his opportunity. People's perception of British gymnastics is a long way from where it was five or six years ago," he said.

Jones said the routines had been calibrated to deliver good scores but wouldn't be so ambitious that they risked shooting themselves in the foot.

In the women's team competition, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Spain, France, Italy, South Korea and the Netherlands will fight for the remaining places.

Britain have already qualified and will not be in action at the test event but two of the younger team members, Jocelyn Hunt and Rebecca Tunney, will compete as part of a mixed group to gain experience. "Our women are fifth in the world. In a sport like gymnastics, when you're up against China, Russia and America that's almost as good as we can possibly be," Jones said. "You'll always be able to take pot-shots at them from time to time but there is something of a glass ceiling. We've got more people in the box seat now and able to produce when it matters. "